The Archers (Powell & Pressburger): S/D

The latter was retitled and recut by Selznick, with additional new footage by Rouben Mamoulian, I think

*The Wild Earth*

Heh, that’s way all caps is just easier

Watched the Small Back Room, and while it had potential, the romance and the thriller aspects were both somehow underplayed? The bomb defusing scene felt like it dragged to me, and the protagonist is such an absolute manchild it make it hard to buy the romance aspect. I think the only relatable part might be the depiction of alcoholism, and EVEN THEN.. the scene with his delireum didn't feel real to me, given his seeming prolonged abstinence from the hard stuff. Oh well.

The book's good, as I recall

Movie is good too.

But you don't need to take my word for it: https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-small-back-room-dvd/

it's definitely on the minor list for me—I still haven't gotten around to The Tales of Hoffmann, but otherwise SBR would be bottom of my personal P&P rankings—though I remember the defusing scene being the brilliant high point

Xpost - bills review is why I went to see it in the first place! It wasn’t like, awful, but I was pretty underwhelmed.

Did you like BLACK NARCISSUS?

Never seen it :0

Anyone seen the Scorsese-narrated (but not directed) doc yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sSeQgxj0rg

Yes

I saw it at MoMA but it is also streaming on MUBI UK & Ireland

It’s good. It tells a story you may already know but still packs a little bit of a punch.

This review is a wee bit harsh at times but basically OTM. https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/made-in-england-the-films-of-powell-pressburger-review/

Thought it was a reasonable choice to keep close to Marty’s POV.

Thoroughly enjoyed it, but I would say make sure you watch all the key movies before seeing it as it's pretty spoilerish

Good point!

Some of the bigger scenes in BLACK NARCISSUS, of course I’d seen many times before but having seen the doc immediately beforehand lessened any residual shock or surprise even more. Which wasn’t really a problem, there was plenty of other stuff to focus on.

Yeah. But I think it would be sad to have the end of Red Shoes, Life and Death and the plot of Blimp all revealed before seeing these fantastic movies!

Totally

Basically always good to go in knowing as little as possible.

I remember certain films where I was the man who knew too much going in and I then had to watch extra times before I could enjoy them properly.

One thing that still managed to shock and cause laughter was the first sight of David Farrar riding that tiny Bhotiya pony/Bhutia horse, bare-legged and in earth-color shorts, like some kind of cover boy UPS man mystery date.

One thing I recently learned from a commentary track was that Kim Hunter had been recommended to Powell by Alfred Hitchcock. Prior to AMoLaD she was a contract player who had mostly only been in screen tests and only then offscreen, feeding lines to the other actors. While Mickey was in the US to fetch her he ran into Kathleen Byron, who he convinced to move back to the UK to appear in that film and of course the two others.

Of course when I was a kid I only knew Kim Hunter as Zira.

Seems like there are some other minor roles in her filmography before that so maybe this was just another Mickey print the legend exaggeration, simliar to him claiming that "Poppa" Percy Day had worked with Méliès and that the famous rocket in the moon's eye image was his.

The latter did work with Abel Gance on NAPOLEON though.
https://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2011/07/walter-percy-day-master-of-matte.html

Some people seem to like Emeric’s novel THE GLASS PEARLS.

Is “Blimp” worth seeing on a big screen? I saw ‘Tales of Hoffmann’ a couple of weeks ago, which I think does merit the big screen.

Definitely, and I’ve been meaning to type that in now for the past two days.

It’s very long and sweeping and in Technicolor. I don’t know how you would sit through it on a small screen in this day and age

Trying to decide whether I can make A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH.

Think I saw it a few years back at the Film Forum.

Xpost Looks kind of interesting - had no idea he was a novelist as well until I saw the doco. What struck me watching the doco was how all these quintessentially British movies of the 40s were made by Hungarian emigre Pressburger and Powell who got his break working for an American studio in France. I guess the experimental side of their movies is not so British...

No

In the commentary track to THE SMALL BACK ROOM, Charles Barr talks about the prominence of drinking coffee in this film, as well as in BLACK NARCISSUS, as opposed to the traditional British drink of tea, and then goes into a riff about Powell being a gourmet and both of them having Continental tastes.

Don’t think I’d ever heard Pressburger speak until I saw the doc.

No Taster’s Choice Freeze-dried for The Archers

https://cinemacats.com/the-small-back-room-1949/

This 111 minute DCP version of GONE TO EARTH has clearly been restored since the 82 minute WILD AT HEART version they showed seven years ago.

Sorry, THE WILD HEART

Reminds me that I geeked out and listened to an audio adaptation of BLACK NARCISSUS with Cyril Cusack’s daughter Sinéad as Sister Clodagh.

Xpost Looks kind of interesting - had no idea he was a novelist as well until I saw the doco. What struck me watching the doco was how all these quintessentially British movies of the 40s were made by Hungarian emigre Pressburger and Powell who got his break working for an American studio in France. I guess the experimental side of their movies is not so British...

Kinda but you also have to take into account that when the Archers were working the UK as a film industry was much more open to foreign talent, there was a lot of give and take with the continent and elsewhere. The Kordas, Cavalcanti, René Clair...

my other half has read Pressburger's novel and says it is very good

my other half has read Pressburger's novel and says it is very good

oops so interesting I had to post it twice!

it was a kindle-daily-deal a month or so ago (but only kindle, it didn't filter down to the kobo-friendly stores)

Kinda but you also have to take into account that when the Archers were working the UK as a film industry was much more open to foreign talent, there was a lot of give and take with the continent and elsewhere. The Kordas, Cavalcanti, René Clair...